Product Description

The Tom-and-Jerry legacy chases through every nook and cranny of the classic animation pantheon, spanning six decades and several famous directors. Looney Tunes icons Friz Freleng, Tex Avery and Chuck Jones all played their part. But the enduring cat-and-mouse team was the brainchild of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Their first short Puss Gets the Boot (in which Tom was called Jasper) was released with little fanfare. Fellow animators did not consider a cat-pursuing-mouse scenario too exciting or original. But when unleashed on exhibitors and audiences, their hilariously diabolical rivalry delighted everyone. This 2-disc set of 40 restored and remastered shorts (along with fabulous celebratory bonuses) includes nine Academy Award nominees and seven winners. And with this in hand, you're a winner too!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5797 in DVD
• Brand: WEA
• Released on: 2004-10-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.20 pounds
• Running time: 322 minutes

Amazon.com
Tom and Jerry, the animation franchise, lasted six decades and saw several geniuses of the form--Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, and Friz Freleng--have a hand in updating and refreshing the series in later years. But Tom and Jerry: The Spotlight Collection, Premiere Volume celebrates the original mastery of producer-directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who took the familiar cat-chases-mouse concept and slowly turned it into witty, unpredictable, and sometimes ironic entertainment. The Spotlight Collection offers 40 restored, remastered shorts beginning with 1943's handsome, Oscar-nominated "Yankee Doodle Mouse" and ending with the fantastic, widescreen 1956 "Blue Cat Blues," very similar to the exaggerated look and feel of former cartoonist-gagman Frank Tashlin's live-action comedies (Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?) from the same period.

What strikes one about every episode on these discs is the lavish care Hanna-Barbera paid to Tom and Jerry, not only drumming up new, sometimes exotic settings (such as the swashbuckling "The Two Mousketeers," or for the Old West adventure "Texas Tom") but also consistently turning out gorgeous and wildly creative backgrounds, where straight lines rarely exist and the palette of a night sky includes multiple, dreamy shades of blue and green. Technicolor and novel visual ideas (e.g., shooting a scene through the tunnel-like view of a hollowed-out bread loaf) are sometimes more pleasing than the combative relationship between the two leads. But their rivalry is often renewed in very interesting ways, such as the wonderful "Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl," in which the pair play competing conductors against a lovely backdrop of L.A. landmarks. Special features include the Anchors Aweigh dance sequence featuring Jerry and Gene Kelly, and a featurette, "How Bill and Joe Met Tom and Jerry." --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

ALL EDITING ASIDE.....
First of all, I agree with many of the reviewers, posted here, that the advertising of these cartoons as unedited while presenting edited material is terrible! However, this could have been a mistake and I think we should be willing to give WB the benefit of the doubt on this one, provided they make good and get us the replacement discs as soon as possible. However, if what the other reviewer says is true and WB does NOT intend to replace the Disc with the correct material, then they open themselves up to a law suit for advertising the set as one thing but delivering something else.

Now, I would like to start by commending WB and the forces and talents behind the scenes who have worked long and hard to get this classic material out there on DVD. It is great to be able to own them in this format and the extra materials, such as the Bill and Joe Story and the Scott Bradley piece are very interesting and informative. This is true, particularly, of the Scott Bradley piece, in which Mr. Bradley regales us, in his own words, (dramatized from an article he wrote for a magazine in the 1940s) of his process and thoughts on scoring these wonderful shorts. It was very detailed and specific; intelligent and fascinating. I also enjoyed the stereo title that was very nicely presented. So let me say thank you, here, to all involved in the process of getting these cartoons released on DVD and PLEASE keep the classic titles coming! We love them, we want them and we thank you for them!

That aside, I have to say, particularly with these "Tom and Jerrys", these prints are NOT recently restored, (with the exception of the Cinemascope prints, which are gorgeous!). The majority of the prints are identical, wobble for wobble and scratch for scratch, to the ones offered on the Japanese DVD sets that have been out for some time. Yes, these shorts do appear somewhat sharper on DVD and the colors are saturated, but re-mastered, I think not. Just take a good look at "Designs on Jerry", for one, and you will be convinced. There is so much debris on that print that it appears to be snowing on screen. In fact, most all of the standard prints on this collection have emulsion scratches and scrapes and "boogars" (as they say in the industry) and that is dismaying to say the least. Compare these Tom and Jerry shorts to the ones in the Looney Tunes collections, (where they actually DID go back to the original materials and re-master the shorts) and you will easily see the difference in quality. Why, even the sound on most of the Tom and Jerry selections is garbled during the first few feet of film and that is just ridiculous.

Actually, I was surprised to read that a few of the reviewers on Amazon comment on the fact that these cartoons have "never looked and/or sounded so good". They actually look and sound very much the same as the prints on Boomerang and Cartoon Network, or in past releases of the material in different formats, (in some cases worse) and appear to be the same prints, redone around 1995. The commentary, by Jerry Beck, is very interesting and insightful, but he remains silent through a good deal of the cartoons and I would really like to hear more detail regarding the process of making these little gems and about the animators who worked on the shows. Perhaps even a comparison of the thumbnails by Joe Barbara and the finished scenes in the films. Now that would be something!

I have discussed this release with a number of friends and colleagues in the animation industry and there is a consensus there. We are so pleased and happy that WB has been talked into releasing classic animation to DVD, we only wish that they would consistently put their best foot forward and put out the very finest quality material they are able to present on EACH AND EVERY classic DVD offering. Please restore them fully and let us enjoy them in the quality they deserve. In the long run, these cartoons are not going anywhere. They will always be around and in demand and they are, indeed, a unique American art form. Down the road, as formats change, as technology improves and as new generations discover the magic of the Hollywood cartoon, I am sure immaculately restored prints will be well worth the while.

THE EDITS ARE AN ERROR
Apparently, the edits in this collection were a mistake, and the first disc can be replaced. I found the following on tomandjerryonline:
I was searching, today the 21st, on one of the forums below and happened upon Jerry Beck's (Cartoon Historian who worked on the DVD) post:

Warner Bros. Home Video is very, very upset over the edited cartoons that made their way into the TOM & JERRY SPOTLIGHT COLLECTION.

This was a mistake made at the servicing level. Warner Home Video and I became aware of the error only ten days before the official release date - and by then, the dvds were on their way to the stores.

It is part of Warner Bros. Home Video's marketing plan not to release edited or censored cartoons because they know that collectors want them complete.

The company is taking immediate steps to correct the situation. The proper digital masters of all three cartoons have been located and are being prepared now for replication. It may take as long as six to eight weeks to have a corrected disc ready for replacement.

From what I've been able to gather, the intention is for fans to be able to replace Disc 1 at no charge to them. I know from personal experience that Warners had a problem a year ago with the film KISS ME KATE. The transfer was not done correctly and fans were upset. Warners responded immediately, created a new transfer and eventually fans recieved replacement discs. It was not an overnight process. But it all worked out in the end.

Those of you waiting for the uncut disc 1 to appear on store shelves, I cannot say when that will happen. It will not happen soon. The quickest way to get the set the way you want it is to buy it now and go through the replacement process.

Despite this inconvience, There is much to recommend on the TOM & JERRY SPOTLIGHT COLLECTION as is. The CinemaScope transfers are amazing, and the never-before-released stereo soundtrack on TOUCHE PUSSY CAT is really fantastic. (Only eight MGM Cartoons were recorded in true stereo at the time and this is the first one to be restored and released as originally intended).

THESE CARTOONS ARE EDITED!!!
The print on the box says these cartoons are not edited and it turns out they are (no black-face gags, no original Mammy two-shoes voice, etc.). When will the producers of these cartoons get with it and release the unedited cartoons and leave censorship to the discretion of the consumer (at least with these cartoons)? Plus these people have disreputized themselves by claiming they are unedited when they really are. Buy only if you want "censored" versions of an otherwise fine cartoon.